Horizons price discussion

[babelfisch]

Apples and oranges.... those are all separate games which include the core game they are not expansions. We are not buying Elite: Dangerous 2, it's an expansion and in the next season we won't be buying Elite: Dangerous 3 etc etc.

LOL. FIFA and CoD are full games? Planetary landings is way more content and innovation than the whole FIFA/CoD franchise had in their lifetime. It's not apples and oranges, its semantics. If FDEV would call it ED 2 you would be happy and there would be no reason to complain? Don't think so, people just complain because they feel entitled to.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Really don't understand the moaning on this one.

Then you really don't understand the pricing

 

[who?]

So if I understand this right, the lifetime expansion pass is the smarter (i.e. cheaper) choice:

- if you want to play the Betas, and they release at least 3 seasons (2 after Horizons)
- if you're not interested in Betas, and they release at least 4 seasons (3 after Horizons)

Given that we don't even know for sure what's coming in the initial or subsequent Horizons season releases - hell, we don't even know all of what's coming in 1.4 and 1.5 - it seems a bit of a shot in the dark to pay for 2/3 additional seasons with minimal info.

For me, Horizons is a must-have (whether with or without the Beta access), but I'll hold off on the following seasons until I know what I'm getting.

 

[CrustyGoth]

I didn't say I thought my purchase was worthwhile. That has yet to be proven. My purchase reflects nothing other than that I'm tired of waiting for the rest of the game, and if FD is going to beg for a few extra dollars to do what they set out to do they need to hold out their hand and stick out their chin, be a man about it, and stop pretending that nothing is wrong.
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Their development model needs to change, and it's not going to change until Elite: Dangerous' financials change. Charging high prices for expansions is going to exacerbate the problem. They need to restructure their plans in a big way.

You felt your purchase was (for want of a better word) worthwhile enough to make. All I'm saying is that if it had been £1000 you would not have bought it - there is a price that you consider too much to pay and the price they chose is not it.

I'll happily agree that there are areas of the game that need attention and everything isn't perfect - however I don't agree with your opinion that things are going drastically wrong, that FD are in trouble and they have the financial model wrong.

One thing I do know is the number of hours of enjoyment I have had so far and I don't see any reason for that to change. I hope the expansion gives you the same.

 

[Commander Pickle]

hey, so what is the price of Horizons?

I see a lot of talk about the price of the expansion...and I'm not finding out what that price is. Figured it would be fast to ask it here, so, how much does the expansion cost?

Thanks

 

[jabberwalkie]

You are confusing two completly different points.

One point is FDEV is charging you for their expansion. They said they will do this and you have been well aware of this since you bought whatever package you got.

The other point is that people are not quite happy with the state of the game, which is an entirely other topic and should be discussed in the corresponding threads. But not here.

They are not mutually exclusive points though. If the current state of the game is found lacking by a percentage of the player base, then the expectation is that the expansion will be the same. I have to say that I agree with that portion, and that is why the price being asked by FD is being found by many to be ridiculous and unwarranted. Commanding a price that is essentially purchasing another ED game, while the current game still lacks in basic areas with the expectation that the game will improve with the expansion being introduced is laughable.

BTW For me the game HAS delivered, I played it for about 500 hours and I just payed for the lifetime season pass because I just love what FDEV does.

That's cool and I am glad you have devoted so much time to the game. I have enjoyed the game as well, but I still realize that the game has issues that haven't been addressed. Also, as a consumer/player I also feel that the marketing strategy that ED has taken with this first expansion makes me feel that FD is saying "If you buy this, you are buying the real game." Unfortunately, I don't see how anything outside of Wings being introduced this year was actually worth an investment of my time. Wings allowed me to hopefully be in the same instance as my friends, but even that hasn't worked out to be the case all the time. Again, I'm not trying to dissuade you from spending your money. That's your choice in doing so. However, in doing so it denotes that your expectations for Horizons is more of the same. Some of us see potential in the game, and while PL is a nice feature, those of us that see the potential also recognize that the game is still lacking. The assurance of "it's being worked on" can only go so far to assuage the fears of the player base of adding features but no substance to go along with those features.

 

[jabberwalkie]

LOL. FIFA and CoD are full games? Planetary landings is way more content and innovation than the whole FIFA/CoD franchise had in their lifetime. It's not apples and oranges, its semantics. If FDEV would call it ED 2 you would be happy and there would be no reason to complain? Don't think so, people just complain because they feel entitled to.

Explain to me how landing on a planet is content.

 

[cosloli]

I see a lot of talk about the price of the expansion...and I'm not finding out what that price is. Figured it would be fast to ask it here, so, how much does the expansion cost?

Thanks

hope this could help you:
https://www.frontierstore.net/games/elite-dangerous-cat.html

 

[Jex =TE=]

What is wrong with big game hunting in a space setting? That is basically the whole premise of Predator. Sounds amazing to me.

What's wrong with racing balloons?

To you it might sound amazing except you're going to be hunting - yeah, good luck getting your tiny dev team to come up with complex AI routines and a lush background to hunt in - try The Hunter but that's only taken years of development - they're making a dino hunter now btw u might like to check out.

ED's hunting game would a) take up all the development time and nothing else would get done and b) would end up with animals as good as the ship AI - in other words, lame.

Do you want a half- hunting game or do you want a space game - what has hunting got to do with Elite?

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

You felt your purchase was (for want of a better word) worthwhile enough to make. All I'm saying is that if it had been £1000 you would not have bought it - there is a price that you consider too much to pay and the price they chose is not it.

I'll happily agree that there are areas of the game that need attention and everything isn't perfect - however I don't agree with your opinion that things are going drastically wrong, that FD are in trouble and they have the financial model wrong.

One thing I do know is the number of hours of enjoyment I have had so far and I don't see any reason for that to change. I hope the expansion gives you the same.

So you're telling me how I feel now?
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This is great. The internet never ceases to amaze.
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The financial model has been slipping since Beta. Most people are letting it slip without notice because FD has a habit of being vague about release dates and then pretending that they were next month, next quarter or next year when people notice they aren't being delivered on.

 

[CrustyGoth]

Explain to me how landing on a planet is content.

I'm not even sure how to respond to that - you may as well ask me to explain why launching from a station is content.

To some extent it is content in itself I suppose but really it's what you do once you are there that is the content...

 

[ZeeWolf]

Explain to me how landing on a planet is content.

Apparently Horizons will include flying down to the planet (as a wing) deploying vehicles and attacking bases both in ships and on the surface.

I guess if you have to ask that. It isn't content for you.

 

[Dogeh]

Assassin's Creed games are pretty much the same thing throughout the series.
Battlefield series - pretty much the same thing every time a new game comes out.
In fact most new versions of any game perhaps bring better graphics (eg GTA) or better GUIs (eg Civilization), but the game is essentially the same.

Elite brings NEW stuff every time the game gets updated.
I happily bought a Lifetime's Pass.

 

[Quineloe]

Missing an option: I don't care about the price.

 

[CrustyGoth]

So you're telling me how I feel now?
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This is great. The internet never ceases to amaze.
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The financial model has been slipping since Beta. Most people are letting it slip without notice because FD has a habit of being vague about release dates and then pretending that they were next month, next quarter or next year when people notice they aren't being delivered on.

I really don't know where you are getting this opinion about the financial model slipping since beta as the model they are follwing is the one I've always expected based on everything they have said. I'll be honest though, if you had a free choice about buying the expansion but didn't think the purchase was worthwhile and still bought it then I'm not sure it's worth continuing to reply to you because your motivations are just alien to me.

Either way I hope you get enough enjoyment from your purchase to justify it.

 

[newman1702]

It's kind of funny that people complain about the lack of scripted storylines in a vastly procedurally generated sandbox game. I don't exactly fall into any of the poll's categories; I think the pricing is a bit steep but I will be buying it when it becomes available on Steam (unable to use FD store from my country, which is strange given it's in the EU. Anyway, support advised me to fake my address to a UK one, but I don't like the idea of putting in a fake address next to a financial transation).

I still think that charging for this addon more than the core game is a bit steep, given that it doesn't include future atmospheric planet landings as free updates to Horizon owners, and that all we know it's landing on airless moons, SRV driving and additional ships. Still, I'll give FD the benefit of the doubt on this one. If I get burnt I'll just be more careful about getting future updates.

 

[Jex =TE=]

But DayZ only has a finite number of official servers right? The rest are enthusiasts and fans. Each one of those servers can only hold a finite number of players. The Arma engine can handle maybe 100 or so players (but not always very reliably or quick to join). So for Frontier to run a business like that they'd have to have a few servers with only small numbers of players.

They could do that in a similar way to Star Citizen, have dedicated servers that hold the instances. But anyone following that game should realise it doesn't simply eliminate the challenges of bespoke network development and since Elite creates dynamic instances of infinite environments the costs would be huge.

DayZ might handle more players, point being it serves a lot more players than ED ever will and it's not broken. Not sure how many servers they have but it doesn't matter. How come BIS can charge less for more work?

 

[Cradle2Grave]

Usually best to head to the developer's store page for that sort of thing.

 

[Darth Ender]

Games like this last a decade and more. To expect content to not be added over that time but magically created all at the beginning would just create an unsustainable request for more and more content and features as the years go by. The big important stuff will come early on (as they seem to be) and become less and less important to the core game as the game ages.

consider 60 bucks a year subscriptions. that's cheap.
consider paying ~180 (if backer) or 240 if you paid for ed after release and bought the lifetime pkg. That's even cheaper over the course of the game's life. It's actually a steal compared to alternatives.

I think people's confusion with threads like this is we dont know what MMO's you're comparing ED to price-wise. Every other one i've seen/played/heard of has cost more per year by far than ED will/has cost me.

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

I really don't know where you are getting this opinion about the financial model slipping since beta as the model they are follwing is the one I've always expected based on everything they have said. I'll be honest though, if you had a free choice about buying the expansion but didn't think the purchase was worthwhile and still bought it then I'm not sure it's worth continuing to reply to you because your motivations are just alien to me.

Either way I hope you get enough enjoyment from your purchase to justify it.

If the financial model wasn't slipping, the development model wouldn't be slipping. Quite simply put: Money=content=game. In that order.
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Because despite explaining my reasoning, and pointing out that this subject is not as black and white as you would so blithely like to believe, you chose to stick with your grossly simplified version that there are only two sides to the discussion and my explanation does not fit in either of them.